In life sciences the sales channel isn't a marketing choice — it's defined by the reimbursement system and the care setting. A medicine reaches patients through a regulated chain of wholesalers and pharmacies; a device reaches them through hospital procurement, tenders and specialist distributors. Choosing and building the right channel is what turns approval into revenue.
For an industrial product, the channel is about reach. For a regulated healthcare product it is about the payer and the setting — who prescribes, who buys, and how the statutory system reimburses it.
Around 90% of Germans are covered by statutory health insurance, so the route to the patient runs through regulated intermediaries, not open sales. That makes "which channel" a strategic decision tied directly to reimbursement: the pharmacy channel, the hospital channel, the specialty and tender routes, and — for digital health — the prescription channel each work differently and reach different budgets.
In German healthcare, choosing a channel is choosing a payer. Pick it on purpose.
Supply is regulated end to end. The channel differs by product type — retail, hospital or specialty.
Full-line wholesalers move product under Good Distribution Practice to Germany's ~18,000 pharmacies, with securPharm serialisation at every step. The default route for prescription and OTC medicines. See pharma distribution.
Clinic and hospital pharmacies procure directly or via specialised suppliers, often through tenders and framework contracts — a different budget and decision process from retail.
Biologics, high-value and temperature-sensitive products move through specialty distributors and pre-wholesale logistics built for controlled handling.
Behind the logistics sits the money: a physician prescribes, the pharmacy dispenses, and the statutory insurer reimburses at the AMNOG-negotiated price. The channel only works if the product is reimbursed.
Devices reach the market through the care setting that uses them — and, in hospitals, through committee-driven procurement.
The main route for clinical devices — committee-driven, tender-heavy and slow, often via purchasing groups (Einkaufsgemeinschaften) and clinic chains. See hospital & tender access.
For outpatient and practice devices, the route runs through resident specialists and their reimbursement under the EBM schedule — a distinct channel from the hospital.
Therapy-specific distributors (ortho, cardio, surgical, IVD, imaging) carry not just logistics but in-theatre and application support — often decisive in adoption.
Some self-care and OTC devices reach patients through pharmacies and retail — and, where listed, the aids-and-appliances (Hilfsmittel) route.
For a qualifying digital-health application, Germany offers a route no industrial channel resembles — a national path to being prescribed and reimbursed.
Through the DiGA fast-track at the BfArM, an app can become prescribable and reimbursed by statutory insurers — a genuine on-ramp to revenue. But listing is not prescribing: getting doctors to prescribe and patients to use it is the commercial work that follows. See DiGA: getting an app prescribed.
A quick orientation. Most life-sciences entrants use more than one, matched to product type and care setting.
| Channel | Reaches | Paid via |
|---|---|---|
| Retail pharmacy | Outpatients, via ~18,000 pharmacies | Statutory insurance, AMNOG price |
| Hospital | Inpatients, via procurement & tenders | DRG case fees, NUB for new methods |
| Office / practice | Resident specialists' patients | EBM outpatient schedule |
| Specialty distribution | Clinics & specialists (biologics, devices) | Mixed, product-dependent |
| DiGA | Patients, by prescription | Statutory insurers, DiGA price |
Whichever channel you choose, finding and vetting the partner who actually holds the relationships is a project of its own — see finding pharma & medtech distributors.
Getting onto a channel — a wholesaler slot, a hospital listing, a DiGA directory entry — makes you available. It does not make you chosen: prescribed, tendered-in, or preferred. Being on the shelf is not the same as being bought, which is the whole point of authorized isn't paid. We build channels that get you chosen, not just listed.
We own the relationship layer — matching the channel to your reimbursement path and finding the partners who actually move regulated product.
The right route — pharmacy, hospital, tender, specialty or DiGA — matched to your product, care setting and reimbursement.
We identify, vet and approach the regulated partners who reach your buyers. See finding a distributor.
We connect the channel to reimbursement — so being available turns into being bought.
Mainly the retail-pharmacy channel — full-line wholesalers supplying ~18,000 pharmacies under Good Distribution Practice and securPharm — plus the hospital-pharmacy channel and specialty/cold-chain distribution for biologics and high-value products. Behind all of them sits the reimbursed prescription flow through statutory insurance.
Through the care setting that uses them: hospital procurement and tenders (often via purchasing groups) for clinical devices, office-based specialist practices for outpatient devices, therapy-specific distributors with clinical support, and pharmacy/retail for select self-care devices.
A route unique to Germany: through the BfArM fast-track, a qualifying digital-health application can become prescribable and reimbursed by statutory insurers. A listing makes you reimbursable; getting prescribed and used is the commercial work that follows.
In German healthcare they are inseparable. The channel determines the payer and process — retail pharmacy is paid via statutory insurance at the AMNOG price, hospitals via DRG case fees and NUB, office practices via the EBM schedule. Choosing a channel is effectively choosing how you get paid.
Usually. Product type and care setting often span several routes — for example retail pharmacy plus a hospital channel, or a device sold both through specialist distributors and hospital tenders. Most entrants run a matched combination rather than a single channel.
Tell us your product and care setting — we'll map the right channel and reimbursement route and the partners worth approaching.